Obama is Not The Messiah

Following the results of the American presidential election, Newsweek editors Evan Thomas and Jon Meacham discussed Obama’s victory with public television host Charlie Rose.

Meacham pointed out that Obama made his victory speech alone, as his vice president, wife, and children all took the stage with him at the start and later withdrew. This is rare because historically, the wife, children, and running mate stand beside the president-elect as he gives his speech.

Meacham feels that Obama wanted to face his supporters on his own. Thomas noted, more profoundly, that Obama has a kind of cult of personality, and is able to get other people to carry out his needs and make them feel gratified for helping him.

Thomas and Meacham both mentioned that during his speech Obama was looking down on a crowd staring reverently up at him. Rose said it a little more clearly, saying Obama rose up, staring down at the people from above; to Thomas, this was “a religious-like cult of personality.”

There were many factors behind Obama’s victory – problems with Bush administration policies, America’s financial crisis, Obama’s pledges for prosperity and successful campaign strategy, etc. – but Obama’s mysterious personality cannot be ignored.

Oprah Winfrey, America’s most famous female television host, is black. Before the election, Oprah had never publicly supported a presidential candidate; this year was an exception, because during the Democratic primary she publicly supported Obama.

Her support of Obama had considerable business risk because her audience is primarily white women who mostly supported Hilary Clinton. But Oprah cast aside her own commercial interests along with feminist ideology, believing that Obama had a special identity. At a campaign rally before tens of thousands of Obama supporters, Oprah shouted: “Is he the one?” Religious Americans should have understood Oprah when she asked: “Which man is the messiah?” Thousands of people joined Oprah to reply: “He is!” Of course, “he” is Obama.

If Oprah were only hinting at Obama’s “divinity,” then Obama’s friend said clearly in his sermon, “Obama was sent by the Messiah.” Many Obama supporters believed, as long as Obama won, all of the problems facing America would disappear.

At an election rally in Florida, an Obama supporter shouted into the camera lens: “After Obama is elected, I won’t need to worry about putting gas in my car, and I also won’t have to worry about paying off my mortgage.” The voice of this Obama supporter is representative, to an extent.

Of course, Obama did also not disappoint the feelings of his fans, emerging from between Greek columns onto the Democratic party’s convention stage to make what was more of a sermon than an acceptance speech.

Obama’s “divine” charisma is not at all limited to America, but apparently has even more “world-saving” magic and charisma outside of America.

46% of American voters still rejected Obama, whereas internationally, Obama’s support rate was about 90%. During the “sermon” in Germany, several hundred thousand Germans were apparently not facing an American presidential candidate. In the fantasies of many Germans, Obama was the “messiah” who would save not only America, but also the world.

This time, American voters did not again disappoint the world, which cheered and jumped for joy as Obama was elected. Facing dire straits, the world at last welcomed its “messiah.” Thanks to Obama’s victory, the world will completely overhaul its view of America and America will seemingly retake the moral high ground.

In a recent piece, a columnist referred to an e-mail he’d received from an American friend: “In the past, I always felt ashamed to be an American, as if everywhere you went you heard bad things about America, and the U.S. passport even became the world’s most unsafe travel document. But today I want to proudly tell you: I’m an American!”

The columnist wanted to show the attitudes of a few Americans toward Obama’s victory, but his friend’s words are actually quite foolish, revealing the kind of delusions that Obama’s victory will change everything, along with religious worship that surrounds Obama.

It’s true that Obama’s victory has historical meaning, but if McCain had won and left our American friend ashamed, wouldn’t McCain still be the president elected by a Democratic system?

Obama will leave the world excited for a few days, but the world will not experience a profound change because of his election win. America is still a superpower, but the world cannot embrace a superpower, which is a situation Obama cannot change.

Perhaps Obama is the messiah in the fantasies of his supporters, but, in reality, he fundamentally is not.

He is nothing more than an American politician created by a more than $2 billion campaign fund, and his platform is nothing more than traditional Democratic party policy. If Obama’s supporters viewed him as a traditional politician, perhaps they will not be too disappointed, but if they view him as a “messiah,” they will be deeply disappointed. The world is in the same boat, consigned to its great expectations.

By the way, Obama’s victory won’t save Wall Street. A week after the election, the Dow had dropped by 10%.